Impassioned Nancy Pelosi: Do I detect a smirk?

House minority leader Nancy Pelosi ripped Republicans for a second day on the House floor, accusing them Wednesday in an extemporaneous speech of fiddling like Nero. Tuesday she indicated Democrats would staunchly oppose raising the eligibility age for Medicare from 65 to 67. Medicare will not be used to “underwrite and subsidize tax cuts for the wealthiest people in the country,” she said.

The San Francisco Democrat said Wednesday she is “willing to take the chance that this House would give over a two-thirds vote for a middle-class tax cut” that also raises rates on top earners. Pelosi, a master vote counter, contends Republicans would cave if her discharge petition were put to a vote.

Casting her eye on Texas Republican Pete Sessions, Pelosi said, “Do I detect your smirk to mean that Republicans will not vote for a middle-class tax cut, Mr. Sessions?”

Based on GOP leadership’s warnings to members to make plane reservations home on Christmas eve and book return flights on Dec. 26, Pelosi said, “They are going to put this off to the very last minute,” reminiscent of a year ago when House Republicans refused to approve a payroll tax holiday until it got “too hot for them to handle.”

“Every time you come to this floor it’s an existential question, why are we here?” Pelosi mockingly said. It is obvious watching her in the fiscal cliff fight why Pelosi was not ready to exit the leadership.